House Committee Considers Online Ad Disclosure, Tweeting Donations and More in Capital Eye-Opener: June 20

This morning, House Democrats will try to revive a Federal Communications Commission regulation requiring greater disclosure of political TV ads that their GOP counterparts shot down earlier this month.

The FCC voted in April to require local affiliates of the four major broadcasting corporations — ABC, NBC, CBS, and Fox — in the nation’s 50 largest TV markets to post information about their political ads online.

However, a House Appropriations subcommittee stuck a provision in an annual appropriations bill that would prevent funding for the regulation. The bill passed the subcommittee along party lines.

Information about ad buys is already made public, but the only way to view these “political files” is to travel to each individual station and obtain paper copies. The FCC’s rule would require broadcasters to submit this information for posting on an online FCC database in .pdf form.

The full Appropriations Committee, which is also Republican-controlled, plans to take up the bill at 10 a.m. today. Democrats will try once more to amend the legislation to allow the FCC regulation totake effect, according to a spokesman for the Appropriation Committee’s Democrats.

Since the House subcommittee’s vote, several government watchdog groups — including the Center for Responsive Politics, Free Press and the Campaign Legal Center — have sent a letter to ranking members of the Appropriations Committee urging them to oppose language in the bill blocking the implementation of online political ad disclosure.

Twitter Donations

Could cell phones be the most powerful political tool of 2012?

Last week, the FEC voted unanimously to allow political contributions to federal candidates via text message. Now, a new Oregon-based technology company called Chirpify is set to launch a service that will allow users to do the same through a tweet, as Politico first reported yesterday.

To use the service, potential donors must create a profile on Chirpify.com and then link their Twitter and PayPal accounts to it. Then, individuals can make a political contribution by including the word “donate” and the Twitter handle of the candidate or committee they wish to contribute to, such as @BarackObama or @MittRomney, in a tweet. Candidates and other political groups can only receive these donations if they sign up for Chirpify as well.

Chris Teso, the CEO of Chirpify, told Politico that around two dozen congressional campaigns from both sides of the aisle have already agreed to employ the platform.

Chirpify will cap individual contributions at $200 so donors’ names won’t be disclosed, and will send receipts to users through direct messages on Twitter.

Candidates will not receive the full amount of each donation made through this platform, however — Chirpify plans to collect 5 percent of each contribution.

Jaws

On this day in 1975, the world’s most famous shark movie, Jaws, was released in theaters. The film not only made countless Americans afraid set foot in the Atlantic Ocean, but marked Steven Spielberg’s first blockbuster hit, allowing him to go on to direct other classics such as Indiana Jones and Jurassic Park in the years to follow.

Four other Democratic congressional candidates from around the country — Reps. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Howard Berman (D-CA) and Sens. Jon Tester (D-MT) and Maria Cantwell (D-WA) — have been the beneficiaries of Spielberg campaign cash this cycle as well, each receiving $2,500 checks from the star director.

Spielberg has made no effort to hide his affection for political candidates on the liberal side of the spectrum. A close friend of former President Bill Clinton, Spielberg endorsed his wife, Hillary, for president and contributed $2,300 to her campaign during the 2008 primaries before backing Obama in the general election. In addition to the $4,600 and $28,500 Spielberg gave to Obama’s campaign and victory fund respectively in 2008, Spielberg directed an Obama video for the Democratic National Convention and donated $50,000 to his inauguration fund.

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